Combined fiber feeder and mixer.



H. c. CHASE.

COMBINED FIBER PEEDERAND MIXER.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 28, 1914.

Patented Feb. 23, 1915.

WITNESSES:

A TTOR/VEY nnmznnr onns'rnn CHASE, or rnw'ruoxn'r, RHODE ISLAND,nssrenon. r rorrnn wearer.

AND JOHNSTON MACHINE COMPANY, TION 0F RHODE ISLAND.

0F PAWTUCKIET, RHODE' ISLAND, A CORPORA- COMBINED FIBER FEEDER ANDMIXER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented rep. as, rare.

Combined Fiber Feeders and Mixers, of

' which the following is a specification.

My invention has reference to an improvement in textile machines andmore particularly-to an improvement in a combmed fiber feeder and mixer,for uniformly mixing various kinds of fibrous material such as wastecotton with raw cotton, silk with linen, cotton with wool, or one kindof a fiber with a different fiber either in texture or incolor.

In the textile industries there is a certain percentage of waste.

drawing slive, spinners stick waste and other forms of waste. In theeconomical operation of cotton or yarn mills -it is essential that thiswaste cotton shall be utilized to the best advantage so as to eliminatethis loss in waste. vThis waste which has to be rerun does not readilymix with the raw stock when fed into 'a hopper bale opener by hand inthe usual way and these bale openers or feeding machines will pick outthe waste or rerun stock more readil than the raw stock, thus the mixedstoc actually fed has at times a larger percentage of waste or rerunstock. In order to minimize this tendency the unskilled attendant isrequired to feed the waste or rerun stock into the machine in smallquantities or a little at a time, which is a tedious and impracticaloperation, as the attendant cannot be depended on to feed by handunvaringly the required amount of waste or rerun stock. As heretoforepartially and inadequately accomplished this cotton waste was mixed withthe raw cotton in a machine known as a'hopper bale opener, inthe"following manner. The hopper bale opener operates to break up ordisintegrate the bale cotton and the waste cotton is fed into themachine by hand, the operator, usually of the lowest grade help,throwing from time to time a small portion of the waste cotton into themachine on to the raw cotton. By this method and use of necessarilyunskilled ton with the raw cotton,

In cotton mills this cotton waste is in the form of card slive,

hand labor, it is practically impossible to obtaln a uniform mixture ofthe waste cotas it is necessary to depend on the udgment of the operatoras to when the waste cotton should be thrown into the machine also as tothe amount of waste cotton that should be mixed with the raw cotton togive the best result. In prac tice it has been found that by the use ofunskilled or any kind of hand labor for this purpose, an uneven mixtureof the cotton waste and raw cotton is obtained and this uneven mixturecan be traced through the various machines and processes to the finshedyarn, where it is found that the yarn is uneven in strength and texturecaused by the uneven mixing by hand of the waste cotton with the rawcotton.

The object of my invention is to provide the textile industries with amachine adapted to mechanically mix a uniform and predetermined amountof' waste fiber with'raw fiber, to disintegrate the mixed fiber and feedthe disintegrated mixed fiber to a bin,

lap-head or other textile machine, to which f it is applicable. I

1 My invention consists in the peculiar and novel construction andcombination ofparts in a combined fiber feeder and mixer, said combinedfiber feeder and mixer having details of construction as will be morefully set forth hereinafter and claimed.

Figure 1, represents a side view of my improved combined fiber feederand mixer, showing the same connected to a lap-head, and Fig. 2. is alongitudinalsectional view through the fiber feeder and mixer and thelap-head.

In these views the lap-head is shown only to illustrate one form of atextile machine to which my improved combined fiber feeder and mixer isparticularly adapted. As the lap-head has noconnection with my'inventiona description of the same is unnecessar combined fiber eeder and mixerand 6' a lap-head, 7. 7. indicates the side frames of the combined fiberfeeder and mixer which support the operative mechanism of them-a chine,8 indicates an endless horizontal lower carrier apron which extendslengthi. wise of the machine just above the floor line;

n the drawin ,[5 indicates m im ro'eedr This apron 8 is supported onrolls 9. 9. journaled 1n bearings in the side frames. One of the rollsis driven to move the u per portion of the apron in the direction 0 thearrow at, as shown in Fig. 2. An endless spiked apron 10. is supportedon rolls 11. 11., in a vertical position. These rolls 11. 11. arejournaled in bearings in the side frames, the shaft 12. of the upperroll 11, being the main driving shaft of the machine. secured the maindriving pulley 13. as indicated by broken lines in Fig. 1. Theshaft 14of the lower roll 11. carries a gear 15 meshing with an intermediategear 16 which in turn meshes-with a gear 17. on the shaft of the roll 9.as indicated in broken lines in Fig. 1, thereby operating the carrierapron 8. The shaft 12 is revolved'to move the 'This stripper 19 isoperated by a pulley 20 connected by a belt 21 to a pulley 22 on theshaft 12, as indicated inv broken llnes in Fig. 1., thereby revolvingthe stripper 19. in the direction of the arrow 0. The mixed fiber isremoved from the spiked apron 10. by a revolving dofi'er roll 23 orother well'known the shaft 12 with a stepped pulley 43 on the means.Above the'carrier apron 8 at the feed end of the machine is formed anaux- '30. 30., journaled in hearings in the side frames 7. 7 The shaft31 of the lower roll 30 carries a gear 32 meshing with a gear 33,

which in turn meshes with a gear 34 on the shaft of the back roll 28. .Agear 35 on the shaft 31 meshes with a pinion 36 on a shaft 37 journaledin bearings in the side frame 7. This shaft 37. carries a pulley 38 asshown in Fig. 1. A shaft 39, is journaled in hearings in the side frames7. 7. and carries a revolving dofi'er roll 40 in a position to strip apredetermined amount of waste cotton from the spiked apron 29, as shownin Fig. 2. A belt 41 connects a pulley 42 on shaft 89 and a belt 44.connects the stepped pulley 43 with the pulley 38 on the shaft 37.thereby driving the dofier roll 40, the spiked apron 29 and the feedapron 27. A comb 45 is secured to a shaft 46 'ournaled in bearings inthe side frames 7. in a position to strip a redetermined amount of thewaste cotton ff'om the spiked apron 29. as shown On the outer end of theshaft 12 is in Fig. 2. .A cam 47 on the shaft'39 operates through an arm48 on the shaft 46 as indicated by broken lines in Fig. 1, to give an upand down motion to the comb 45. A presser plate 49 in the auxiliaryhopper 24 is secured to a shaft 50 supported at each end in the sideframes 7. 7. This presser plate 49 holds the waste cotton against theface ofthe spiked apron 29 andmay be adjusted for .position by any wellknown means. The end 26 of the auxiliary hopper 24 and the presser plate49'forms an entrance opening 51 to the hopper for the waste cotton. Thelower carrier apron 8 extends outward beyond the auxiliary hopper 24 andforms an endless moving surface to receive the raw cotton and feedthesame to the machine through an opening 52 between the lower carrierapron 8 and the auxiliary hopper 24, as shown in Fig. 2.

In the operation of my combined fiber feeder and mixer, raw cotton 53 isplaced on the outwardly extending portion of the carrier apron v8 andwaste cotton 54 placed in the auxiliary hopper 24, through the entrance51. .Through the operation of the mechanisms described the raw cotton 53is fed to the spiked apron 10 through the opening 52, and simultaneouslya uniform and a predetermined amount of waste cotton is fed from theauxiliary hopper 24 on to the raw cotton, as illustrated in Fig. 2. Bythe action of the carrier apron 8 and the spiked apron 10 the raw andwaste cotton are thoroughly agitated and mingled together into a uniformmixture of raw and waste cotton 55 which forms into a mass that revolvesin the direction of the arrow f. The spiked apron 10in addition tomixing the cotton disintegrates the mixed cotton from the mass, and inconnection with dofier roll 23, feeds the same out of the machine,

the amount of disintegrated mixed cotton coming from the machine beinggoverned by the speed of'the revolving stripper 19, and the amount ofwaste cottonfed to the raw cotton being governed by thereciprocatoryspeed of the comb 45;

By the use of my improved fiber feeder and mixer a more perfect mixtureof waste cotton with raw cotton or one fiber with another fiber isobtained and a more perfect yarn of mixed fiber is produced than .hasheretofore been obtained.

I do not wish to confine myself to the construction shown as variousmodification in construction could be used to accomplish the sameresult. a I

Having thus. described my invention I- claim as new 1. In a machine ofthe character described, a frame, a mixing chamber in the frame, meansfor feeding fiber into the mix-' ing chamber, auxiliary means forfeeding a uniform and a predetermined amount of fiber into the mixingchamber, means for mixing the fibers in the mixing chamber and means fordisintegrating the fibers.

2. In a machine of the character described. a frame, a mixing 'chamberin the frame, means for feeding fiber int the mixing chamber, auxiliarymeans for feeding a uniform and a predetermined amount of fiber into themixing chamber, means for mixing the fibers in the mixing chamber, meansfor disintegrating the fibers and means for feeding the mixed fiber fromthe machine.

In a combined fiber feeder and mixer, a frame. a horizontal endlesscarrier apron operatively supported -at the bottom of the machine. anendless spiked apron opera 'tively supported at one end of the machinein a vertical position, an auxiliary hopper, an endless spiked apronoperatively supported in a vertical position above the carrier apron,and driving mechanism for operating the carrier apron and the spikedaprons.

I. In a combined fiber feeder and mixer,

side frames, a lower horizontal endless car rier apron operativelysupported in the machine, an endless spiked apron operatively supportedat one end of the machine in a vertical position, an auxiliary hopper atthe opposite end of the machine, an upper endless feed apron operativelysupported and forn'iing the bottom of the auxiliary hopper, the sideframes, :the lower carrier apron and the upper feed apron forming anentrance opening for feeding fiber to the machine, an endless spikedapron operatively supported in a vertical position above the carrierapron, and driving mechanism for operating the carrier apron, the feedapron and the spiked aprons.

In a combined fiber feeder and mixer, side frames, a lower horizontalendless carrier apron operatively supported in the machine, an endlessspiked apron operatively supported at one end of the machine in avertical position, an auxiliary hopper at the opposite end of themachine, an upper endless feed apron operatively supported and formingthe bottom of the hopper, an endless spiked apron operatively supportedin a vertical position above the lower carrier apron, the lower carrierapron extending outward beyond the auxiliary hopper, and drivingmechanism operatively connected with the lower carrier apron, the upperfeed apron and with the spiked aprons.

6. In a combined fiber feeder and mixer, a frame, a lower endlesscarrier apron operatively supported in the frame, an endless spikedapron operatively supported at one end of the machine in a verticalposition, an auxiliary hopper at the opposite end of the machine andabove the lower carrier apron, an upper endless feed apron operativelysupported and forming the bottom of the auxiliary hopper and in aposition parallel with the lower carrier apron, an endless spiked apronoperatively supported at right angles to the lower carrier apron andforming the back of the auxiliary hopper, the lower carrier apronextending outward beyond the upper feed apron, and a driving mechanismoperatively connected with the lower carrier apron, the upper feed apronand with the spiked aprons.

7. In a combined fiber feeder and mixer, the combination of thefollowing instrumentalities, a frame, a lower endless carrier apron in ahorizontal position, an endless spiked apron in a vertical position atone end of the carrier apron, a stripper adjacent the spiked apron, adofier adjacent the spiked apron, an auxiliary hopper above the carrierapron, an endless spiked hopper apron above the carrier apron, a combadjacent the spiked hopper apron, a doffer adjacent the spiked hopperapron and a dll ing mechanism.

8. In a combined fiber feeder and mixer, the combination of thefollowing instrumenta-lities', a frame, a lower endless carrier apron ina horizontal position, an endless spiked apron in a vertical position, arevolving stripper adjacent the spiked. apron, a doffer roll adjacentthe spiked apron, an auxiliary hopper, an endless upper feed apron abovethe lower carrier apron and forming the bottom of the hopper, an endlessspiked apron forming theback of the hopper, a reciprocating combadjacent the spiked apron of the hopper, a doffer roll adjacent thespiked apron of the hopper and a driving mechanism.

In testimony whereof, I have signd my name to this specification in thepresence of two subscribing witnesses.

HERBERT CHESTER CHASE.

Witnesses:

C. PERRY VVIIITE, CHAS. H. LUTHER.

